Todays ****....LOL...it's never easy....:)

[Asmoday]

Well,

I decided to change the hoses, thermostat and give a vinegar flush to my newly acquired M1009. Normally this would be an easy job...normally. Well not today...

It stated out with the bolts on the thermostat housing being seized and I mean really f'in seized. I soaked and soaked the bolts in Aerokroil but finally I had to give it a shot trying to remove them... squeal squeal squeal....!

They did come out with quite a bit of force but in the end they brought with them a couple of threads.

The next issue was after I had to hammer the housing neck to break it free...the remaining gasket material was an absolute nightmare to remove. It took me hours and hours with many razor blades to finally get all the gasket material off. ****, I tried soaking the gasket material with every solvent known to man...Acetone, brake cleaner, mineral spirits, MEK, etc. etc. you name it and in the end it was Kroil penetrating oil and lots of razor blades to get all the gasket material off.

I chased the bolt threads with a die and chased the threads in the mounting face with a tap...very very carefully. Everything cleaned up nice and went back torquing together fine. I used Hylomar sealer and anti-seize on the bolts...

I really think the thermostat was original and has never been replaced as the gasket material really had twenty five years of hardness...! The GM thermostat I pulled out definitely looked like it had 66,000 miles...LOL.

The vinegar/distilled water mix is in right now and I will drive it a couple of hours tomorrow and then drain, rinse, rinse and then fill with 50/50 mix. It's gonna need a radiator in the next year or so.

Below are a couple of pics during the clean and tap. In the pic with the tap threaded in I had already spent 4 hours trying to get gasket material off...no joke....

 

[idM1028]

Might want to pick up some PB blaster. Seems to be some pretty nasty s***. Supposedly if you leave it in a styrofoam cup, it'll eat through it. It's that good. Wonder how much that housing being aluminum and having 180-200+ degree coolant running through it had to do with your struggles. Dad was an aircraft mechanic. Used to tell me whenever they had aluminum parts that were being a PITA (especially if steel or some other metal was involved) they'd just throw them in the oven for a couple hours. The aluminum (being a good conductor of heat) would expand rapidly and allow for a bit more "wiggle room."

 

[Asmoday]

I actually tried heating it up with a heat gun. It was definitely as hot as it would get under normal operating temps. It didn't help. I will check the PB blaster product out.

Thanks

 

[lindyp38]

p b blaster will be ur new best friend........its that good....

 

[timarr]

I use PB Blaster on everything that I think will be a pita! good stuff!

 

[misterbill64]

Next time try a die grinder with a wire wheel ,it will remove it quick fast and in a hurry, just use a lite touch on aluminum

 

[MidnightDuramax]

Permatex makes a spray that is specifically used for removing and dissolving gaskets. Look into it. I get mine at the local parts store and it works great. The only abrasive technique you should use on any gasket surface is a block of wood wrapped in sand paper. It prevents from making any low spots in the surface that would cause sealing issues.

 

[196thprober]

I love those pictures of it eating through the styrofoam cup on the can of PB Blaster- it looks like something from the 1940s or before.

 

[antennaclimber]

I also changed the thermostat and all hoses on my newly acquired M1009 yesterday.

Fortunately the thermostat housing bolts came out with out any issues. Required some moderate persuasion to get the housing neck removed. All of the items that I changed out were original. The gasket material was stuck on the parts and hard to remove as well. Used a razor blade and a wire wheel to remove it.

The coolant was the same color blue as windshield washer fluid. Flushed it all out and refilled with new antifreeze and distilled water. Adding a coolant filter next weekend.

Also removed, cleaned and painted battery trays. Installed new heater blower motor resistor, cleaned all electrical connections on the electrical bus bars, changed oil and installed new oil, air and fuel filters.
Karl

 

[ratat98]

We use Aerokroil and PB at work every day. Never fails, Kroil will always work where PB won't.

 

[wired1000]

just an FYI from a chemist... just about anything will eat through a styrofoam cup... gasoline, acetone, toluene, MEK, probably WD-40. Not to knock PB Blaster, which I have never used, but I do want to downplay the "strength" it requires to eat through styrofoam... it's basically the equivalent of doing a single push-up.

 

[wired1000]

According to the PB'laster Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for their Penetrating Catalyst product, it is basically two types of thin oil (Petroleum Distillate) and uses Naptha as the solvent. The first item listed in the contents: "Dinonylphenol ethoxylated phosphated" may be that catalyst they're talking about. I couldn't find any information on it or what it does... it sounds like another solvent. What would be neat is a product that incorporated some kind of acid that could dissolve rust at the same time, but I'm not sure how that would work because all the oils would get in the way of those reactions.... hmmmmmmm...

Naptha, the main ingredient, is pretty common (you can get it at the hardware store). It's a mixture of the lightest, most volatile things to come out of oil when it's distilled. (Acetone, Benzene, all sorts of crap you wouldn't want to spend a lot of time inhaling). This is definitely the ingredient that eats through styrofoam like a hot knife through butter. (BTW a hot knife will also eat through a styrofoam cup... if it's really hot). Wikipedia says that Naptha is used as a catalyst during some types of petroleum distillations... so maybe that is what PBlaster is talking about?

So presumably what PBlaster does is the Naptha carries those thin oils into the tiny cracks, then evaporates leaving the oil behind, which then loosens up those stuck nuts and bolts.

I've always used "Busty" penetrating lubricant, but I'll admit my buying decision had less to do with chemistry and more to do with the artwork on the can

aaaaaaand I'm done!

 

[Terracoma]

I like to use the 3M bristle discs that fit in the Roloc-style pads for die grinders.

They're awesome for removing stubborn gasket material from differentials, cylinder heads, you name it.

.

 

[Asmoday]

Thanks for the tips... I actually did use a wire wheel on it and no go... All the wire wheel did was polish the gasket material to a nice shiny surface...LOL. Made it look like rust. It was hours of scraping with a razor blade and Aerokroil that worked in the end....